


Identity Issues

by DagReaper (TyJaxReaper)



Category: Captain America (Movies), Once Upon a Time (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, He's Not Too Sure, Identity Issues, James "Bucky" Barnes is Mad Hatter | Jefferson, Jefferson Confuses Bucky, Once Upon a Time (TV) References, Quote: Who the hell is Bucky?, Sebastian Stan Confuses Bucky, he thinks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-10
Updated: 2016-08-10
Packaged: 2018-08-07 19:31:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7726936
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TyJaxReaper/pseuds/DagReaper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James was more than a little suspicious when he found a DVD set on his couch after getting back from his afternoon workout with Steve. It wasn’t that the case made him wary, no. He remembered Barton saying that he’d watched the first few episodes with Natalia- Natasha!, he mentally corrected. </p><p>'Once Upon a Time was a pretty good and nostalgic TV show,' The archers’ words. But had he known what he was in for in later episodes... he wouldn't have pressed the 'play' button. </p><p>"Jefferson," he’d heard the queen call out lightly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Identity Issues

**Author's Note:**

> I've been in a Jefferson/James mood today and I found the 'MARVEL Bland HeadCanon' thing saying that Bucky can't watch OUAT 'cause it gives him Identity Issues and this was a great chance to get a story going :) I seriously enjoyed writing this xD it was so much fun!! xD

James was more than a little suspicious when he found a DVD set on his couch after getting back from his afternoon workout with Steve. It wasn’t that the case made him wary, no. He remembered Barton saying that he’d watched the first few episodes with Natalia- _Natasha_ , he mentally corrected. They went on about it and talked to each other every now and again while they were in the lounge room. _Once Upon a Time was a pretty good and nostalgic TV show_. The archers’ words. It was all fairy tale movies and books all connected through a TV show.

But that was all he knew. He hadn’t looked further into it.

What made him feel suspicious, was the note sitting beside it. ‘ _S1 E17_ ’, ‘ _S1 E21_ ’, ‘ _S1 E22_ ’, ‘ _S2 E2_ ’, ‘ _S2 E3_ ’, and ‘ _S2 E5,_ ’ were written in red writing, as if to emphasize them. He’d gathered that one of them, probably Barton, had left it there for him, to watch those specific episodes. Why? He had no clue. He hadn’t taken that much notice into the plot or characters. He’d just gotten the jist of it from the archer wanting to excitedly explain the show and why it made him feel like a child again. The point being, he hadn’t taken in much other than it being a type of fairy tale show based in a ‘not-so-big- town’.

James stared at it for a moment before glancing away and heading into his bedroom area of the facility, his bathroom being connected to it, and he was aching for a warm shower, to wipe the sweat and tension away. Maybe then he’d check out the two episodes, during a moment of relaxation.

He headed straight through and into the bathroom, walking further in to turn the shower on and then stripping on the spot, dropping everything around him until he was as naked as when he was dragged out of Cryofreeze during his HYDRA days. Anyone would’ve expected, ‘as naked as the day he was born’, but he couldn’t remember that, even if it was obvious you’re born naked.

\----------

After getting out, James strode naked into the bedroom, dripping warm water along the carpet to the point where he stopped at his dresser, towel braced over his shoulders. He swiftly grabbed a pair of baggy, dark grey lounge pants and a slightly baggy, black vest. He lazily tossed them over to the bed and closed the drawer, reaching for the towel to quickly dry himself, from head to toe and eventually he just dropped it, feeling as dry as he could get. The soldier reached for the trousers, slipping his legs into them and then reaching for the vest. It felt like they were sticking to him, but he was still slightly damp, only having done a once over with the towel.

He eased his way back into the other room, not pausing as he strode over to the sofa and reached out for the DVD case, picking it up and giving it a lingering glance before heading over to the tv on the wall. An unnecessarily large TV, he might add.

James slipped in the third and last disc of the first season, having read the names of the episodes on the back. He casually stepped back over to the couch and dropped the case onto the table and grabbed the remote, switching the screen on from there. It hummed to life, the dark rectangle glowing white before it started up properly. James took a second before turning away and walking towards his kitchen, heading straight for the fridge that held his six-pack of beer. He pulled the cold bottles out and closed the door, reaching into the snap cupboard next to it and grabbing his ready-caramel popcorn pack before picking up his things and returning to the warm comfort of his sofa, relaxing as soon as his ass and back made contact with the cushions.

He propped his feet up onto the coffee table, placing the beer on the cushion next to him before he opened the popcorn pack, reaching in to grab a handful and then reaching for the remote with his free hand. He quickly found the 17th episode and pressed play, a recap of the latest being the first few scenes.

James easily deduced that the short black haired woman had been framed, by an old, sly man and definitely by a brunette haired lady. The blonde seemed to be trying to help. The narrator had narrated that the queen banished every storybook character to the human realm, their world.

Soon after the intro, he’d figured out that the sly old man loved deals, having made a few with the Evil Queen. The latest seemed to be about a couple, Mary-Margaret and a ‘ _charming_ ’ man, the old man had labelled. They schemed for a moment and not long after, it seemed to fade into another scene, the same woman, riding a horse. It seemed to fun until she climbed off and another woman appeared. Her mother, she’d said. She was cruel, dark, used magic to physically force her into submission to being a ‘good girl’. She was released and she ran towards the stable, where a man was, one that had followed the cruel woman previously. From what he could see from the scene, they were together, a couple.

It then returned to the town, the blonde woman walking and a man appearing behind her, seeming frantic to know if Mary-Margaret was okay and if she’d accept a visitation. He’d already gathered that she was in prison, though thought being confirmed when it cut a scene to that, the Evil Queen sitting outside of her cell as she awoke. James instantly took a disliking to her, but he assumed that maybe her mother had been the best role model. Or maybe that was a part of why she became this. She was intimidating, had the aura of authority in that little town. She held everyone below her and it clicked that the banishing curse might’ve made her mayor, an intimidating figure above all. As well as her attitude added to that.

It faded to the passed again, back to the world of fantasy, and the queen was there, riding her horse. She met with the stable-man, embracing fast and talking about true love and her mother not accepting what they had.

James’ attention became alert at the shout, a horse shooting passed with a girl on its back, screaming for help. The queen swiftly moved into action and gave chase on her own horse. She caught up surprisingly fast, managing to grab the girl and haul her over to lie across her front. It cut to the horse slowing down to a stop, the girl falling off and seeming so scared and frantic. The queen calmed her down fast though, a delicate smile on her face. She was a complete opposite version to the queen in the town.

It then returned to the earth world, to the cell room, or Sheriff's’ station. The old man was there, seeming to give options to somehow save the woman who’d be framed. Though he kept returning to one, that she use her status and persona to her advantage. A small, kind, elementary school teacher with no flaw or record. Only after another man appeared, a spy of sorts as they spoke, the old man and Mary-Margaret spoke too, the blonde, Emma, soon returning to talk. Again, soon after, the queen and a man showed up, the man who’d question her. It intensified from there, question after question growing his harshness and with a strong air of accusation. He was forcing a reaction from her, frustrating her to make her snap back with an attitude that would seal the deal.

It faded again and he was thankful that the sequences between the present and past were easy to understand with the two different goings on in them. The present was a framed woman, trying not to stand trial for something she hadn’t done and was having difficulty, and the past held royalty with a cruel mother, a love for the stable boy and an arranged marriage after she’d saved the king's daughter. Two different plots and they were placed pretty well enough that he understood it.

Though none of it peeked the idea of why Barton and/or Romanov wanted him to watch the episodes. Nothing seemed familiar or even remotely interesting enough to catch his attention. He’d probably watch a few episodes in his spare time, to waste said time if he had to wait up or after having another nightmare. Other than that though, it was just filler to him as of right now.

\----------

James had sifted through three episodes later, having let it run on without pressing a button. He was on the 21st episode, an odd one. Nothing so far had anything that had caught his attention, nothing at all. He was thinking that maybe Barton and/or Romanov wanted him to catch up on a few details forehand and that was why it was still letting it run. He’d admit that he’d enjoyed a few things. The Hansel and Gretel plot, Pinocchio and Geppettos’ story. The latter had been heart-warming to watch.

He was currently on his third beer and had almost finished the popcorn, having rationed them out during the binge watching. The soldier was gradually getting bored of just sitting there, watching and staying still. The longest he’d stayed still was during sleep and even that was rare. He was currently running a new record of ‘ _how statue-like can you get_ ’.

James sighed, but continued watching as the Evil Queen, Regina placed a ‘ _White Rabbit_ ’ card on the back of a child's bike, the white rabbit of Wonderland, he recognized. He’d assumed that maybe they were bringing Wonderland into the mix, widening the population with more characters to keep up the interest.

He’d switched between drinking more beer and almost deciding to switch it off to take a few rounds of shooting his rifle by the time something actually caught his attention, snapping him from every thought and movement of lifting his bottle when he saw what he assumed they’d wanted him to see.

The characters were in Regina’s office, her smiling as the door opened and a tall, long coated man stepped in, seeming neat and organized with the ‘ _White Rabbit_ ’ card in hand. None of that had him suddenly on edge.

It was the face. The brooding, displeased look on his face… on _HIS_ face. James’s face. It was _him_. There was a man, _him_ , standing there with shorter hair and grim expression in fancy clothes covered by a long winter’s coat.

“ _Jefferson_ ,” he’d heard the queen call out lightly. His name even started with the same letter!

James sat up, pushing himself from the back of the sofa to rest on the edge, his hands clenched in tight fists as his elbows rested on his knees and he could only stare while his chest expanded and drew back in fast pants. This was too bizarre! That had to be him! There were no other explanations! He had no twin or brother of actual blood. And if he did, he’d be dead by now. James was almost a hundred years old. And he had no kids, so he couldn’t be some grandson or something.

 _It was him!_ Did he find the time to learn how to act? Had HYDRA decided to have fun and mess with him? Reprogram him to be an actor and star in films and TV show?! Why was he there? When had this happened? Surely he’d remember now? He remembered a majority of his time as the Winter Soldier now, so he’d remember if they forced him into acting or portraying characters.

“ _So, you got my message_ ,”

“ _How could I miss it-_ ,” it was the same voice, exactly the same rough and gruffness that came with a grim attitude and it was _his voice, his tone, his ‘I-hate-everything’ deep, gritty accent, voice and tone_. This man was him! “- _you know I watch her_ ,” it was him. He couldn’t-... remember! _Why can’t he remember?!_ It was him! It was!

James threw his hand out to the remote and paused the screen on one of his lines, keeping it still as he tossed the device to his side and stared, his eyes wide, his breathing harsh and his body frantically twitching from fear, confusion, frustration, anger, disbelief… It scared him to see this, his heart beating so hard and fast that he was afraid it would burst through his ribcage.

He frantically sprinted to his bedroom, retrieving his laptop that Stark and Steve had set him up with and dragged it back to the living area to put it on the coffee table. He dropped between the couch and table, sitting crossed legged on the carpet as he switched it on, instantly taking a breath during the time it took to load the thin machine up and bring up a search bar.

The soldier typed out ‘Once Upon A Time, Jefferson’. And images appeared on the right side of the Stark search bar, a list of info and a few Wiki pages appeared on the left and he read through the titles and cut off summaries under them until he saw an image of himself in odd clothes and slightly longer, lighter brown hair. There was a longer summary under it. On a sample of a Wiki page.

-“ _Jefferson, also known as the Mad Hatter, is a character on ABC's Once Upon a Time. He débuts in the seventeenth episode of the first season. He is portrayed by guest star Sebastian Stan, and is the Enchanted Forest counterpart of Jefferson. Jefferson is based on the Mad Hatter from the novel, Alice in Wonderland._ ”-

Sebastian Stan… James stared at the screen and typed out the name in the Stark-bar, pressing enter and then clicking straight onto the image button, dozens upon dozens of images of him appeared, all different, all him and all James could do, was drop back, leaning back against the bottom of the sofa. His eyes were wide and it felt as if his heart had just stopped.

Either...

Either someone out there looked identical to him, too identical for it to be possible, or he’d managed to become a successful actor and gave himself a believable allies and character that even Steve hadn’t know about…

The soldier reached up and grabbed the remote, switching the tv off.

James Barnes was James Barnes and yet, he wasn’t. Here he was, staring at himself, known as Sebastian Stan. There were two, or one man been portrayed as two… or.. or… who was he… Jefferson? James? Sebastian? One or two of the agents had just given him more identity issues than he already had.

… He was never watching Once Upon A Time again and he was definitely not watching anything else the agents asked him to look at or left in his room ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> What'd you think? You enjoy? I really loved writing this. It was really fun and I hope I'm not the only one that enjoyed this xD let me know what you thought and if I should expend with these two :) I'm thinking one getting a one-off series going with just these guys doing whatever, like they meet, they don't meet, they end up in the town of Storybrooke or end up in Tony's lab after he screws with something he shouldn't, etc etc. 
> 
> Let me know :)


End file.
